Chicago Bears: Does Lovie Smith Deserve Contract Extension after Green Bay Loss?
Monday, following the Chicago Bears' tragic NFC Championship Game loss to the Green Bay Packers, Bears' general manager Jerry Angelo told the Chicago Press corps he wants to give head coach Lovie Smith a contract extension.
Smith, who has led the Bears since 2004, has compiled a 63-49 record, three NFC North titles and a 3-3 playoff showing.
Despite this season's success, many fans and analysts think Smith does not deserve this extension, which would take his contract past 2011.
Pros and cons of Lovie's tenure will be examined.
Pro: Lovie Is Already One of Bears Most Successful Coaches
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Out of 13 head coaches in Chicago Bears history, Lovie Smith has the third most wins and the third longest tenure. Smith has compiled a 63-49 record with three NFC North titles and three playoff wins. He also led the 2006 Bears to Super Bowl XLI, the only coach besides Mike Ditka to lead Chicago to that crucial game.
The only coaches who have more victories and longer tenures are legends George Halas (324 wins in 40 seasons) and Ditka (106 wins in 11 years).
Smith is also comfortably ahead of Dave Wannestedt, who is fourth on the wins list at 40-56.
Con: Smith Still Doesn't Have a Ring
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Chicago is the oldest and most storied franchise in NFL history.
The Bears have the most players in the Hall of Fame (26), most wins (704) and second most championships (nine) among NFL teams.
Five different coaches in Halas, Ditka, Ralph Jones, Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnson have given the Bears a championship. Lovie still hasn't.
Smith's best chances were in 2006 and 2010, but he did not have his players prepared for those games.
The 2006 Bears had the best defense in the NFL with solid running backs Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson to lead Chicago's offense. However, the Bears were outscored 29-10 after Devin Hester's 92-yard kickoff return. Lapses like Daniel Manning not covering Reggie Wayne's long touchdown reception because of miscommunication and Muhsin Muhammad giving up on an interception that was returned for a score cost Chicago the game.
During this year's NFC Championship Game, the Bears defense allowed Green Bay to effortlessly drive 84-yards on seven plays for an opening score while the offense did not score or gain a first down on a third-down play until the fourth quarter.
Also, why in the hell was Todd Collins the No. 2 quarterback over Caleb Hanie after a disastrous Carolina game? That talent evaluation cost the Bears two critical third quarter possessions.
Pro: Smith's Defenses Can Be Dominant
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The three seasons Chicago has advanced to the playoffs, Lovie commanded top defenses. His defenses were tough in 2005 (first), 2006 (third) and 2010 (fourth).
The 2005 squad allowed only 202 points (first), 4,509 yards (second) and 19 touchdowns (first) while forcing 34 turnovers.
2006 saw the Bears continue with dominance, placing second in touchdowns allowed (25), third in points (255) and first downs (258) allowed and forcing 35 turnovers.
This year's Bears were fourth in points (286) and first downs (25) allowed, fifth in first downs (282) and created 35 turnovers.
Keep in mind, Chicago had horrible offenses two of those seasons, ranking 27th in 2005 and 21st in 2010. 2006 had 427 points scored, but special teams and the defense scored eight touchdowns.
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Con: Smith's Defenses Can Be Mediocre/Bad
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Smith prides himself with his team's defensive accomplishments, but there are years where the defense has gone south on him.
Look at the four years the Bears did not make the playoffs.
Chicago's defenses were ranked 13th (2004), 16th (2007 and 2008) and 22nd (2009).
Part of the reason for these poor defensive rankings were due to injuries sustained to stars Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris, Charles Tillman among others. But the main reason was poor fundamentals with tackling and personnel that did not fit Lovie's Tampa 2 defensive scheme.
It's true the Bears offense was even worse those years; but when the offense sucks, the defense can't suck.
Pro: Bears Offense Improved This Season
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Throughout the franchise's history, the Bears were more of a defensive team that would run the ball with a basic offense.
However, that is changing with the emergence of quarterback Jay Culter.
Cutler has 50 passing touchdowns as a Bear over two seasons, already ranking third all time behind Sid Luckman and Billy Wade. Cutler also is the only Bears quarterback to throw for consecutive 3,000-yard seasons.
Cutler is complemented by Matt Forte, a dual-threat running back, Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and Greg Olsen.
The offense, under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Martz, tallied 27 or more points in six games this season, including a 35-24 playoff thrashing of the Seattle Seahawks.
Even though the offense ranked 21st in points forced (334), Martz and offensive line coach Mike Tice both made the best with a horrible offensive line. They adjusted the blocking schemes to make the o-line look passable.
If Angelo gets solid offensive linemen and receivers through the draft and free agency, the Bears offense should be better in 2011.
Con: Bears Offense Unimpressive under Smith's Leadership
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Smith is not an offensive mind, and he makes that clear with giving this offensive coordinators full autonomy in drawing up and calling plays.
But offense has been a major weakness under Smith's tenure.
Excluding 2006, Chicago's offense was 15th (2008), 19th (2009) 20th (2007), 21st (2010), 27th (2005) and dead last (2004). The Bears have had Terry Shea and Ron Turner as failed offensive signal callers, with Martz the third since Smith took over.
Turner lasted for five seasons, but he was a very predictable schemer, with countless back-to-back running plays up the middle on first and second down to put his offense in a hole.
Before Cutler, Smith struck out with seven quarterbacks and helped run Thomas Jones out of town for Cedric Benson to start.
Without Smith knowing the offense, Martz drew up an ill-advised wide receiver reverse on a crucial third-down play against the Packers and did not target Olsen until late in the game. Martz could do those things because Lovie does not help with the offense.
Pro: Chicago Had a Good Year
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In a season where analysts picked the Bears to finish third or even fourth in the NFC North, Chicago surprised all the critics and went 11-5 to win the division.
The Bears had some unexpected wins over the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Jets while winning three out of four nationally televised games.
Cutler threw 11 less picks than 2009, and Forte had over 1,000 rushing to give the offense some life.
Urlacher and Lance Briggs had Pro Bowl years to lead the defense to fourth best in the league.
Hester produced three punt returns for scores while the special teams stepped up all year.
After beginning the year 4-3, Smith and his coaches simplified the offense and went 7-2 to secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.
Chicago won a 35-24 playoff decision against Seattle before bowing out to Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game.
Smith revitalized the coaching staff with placing Martz and Ron Marinelli as offensive and defensive coordinators and Mike Tice as the offensive line coach.
Con: Chicago Had an Easy Schedule
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Another argument is the Bears had an easy schedule filled with luck.
If you look at Chicago's victories, the Bears beat the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins and both the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings twice.
Buffalo and Carolina were among the worst teams in the NFL. The Dolphins, Vikings and Panthers all had their third-string quarterbacks in for the Bears defense to destroy.
Chicago was relatively healthy the whole season until Sunday when Cutler sustained an MCL tear.
With the Bears losses, they dropped easy games to the Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks earlier in the year due to a horrendous offensive line. The New York Giants embarrassed the Bears with nine sacks in a half, and the New England Patriots demolished Chicago 36-7 in a snowy Soldier Field.
A win against the Lions resulted in Calvin Johnson's game-winning touchdown being ruled incomplete and Green Bay had 18 penalties on Monday night to give Chicago a victory.
Sunday's game was also winnable, but inept offensive play coupled with non-clutch defense spelled the Bears doom. The loss killed Chicago's Super Bowl chances in a wide-open race for the NFL crown.
Conclusion
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In light of the arguments for and against Lovie having a contract extension, the evidence points to a negative conclusion. Smith has done some nice things for the Bears the last seven years like leading them to Super Bowl XLI, but he has also had mediocre to bad seasons too.
The offense has been a sore spot and on a good amount of the Bears losses came from being ill prepared for a game.
Smith did a good job in 2010 and deserves to coach in 2011. However, an extension would be premature when Smith's team fell short to a hated rival one game from the Super Bowl.
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